The Monogrammist IS

Jonny Oppenheimer (1923–2005), Sweden;

Thence by family descent until

Anonymously sold ('The Property of a Lady'), London, Sotheby's, 29 April 2010, lot 29 for £39,650;

Where acquired by the present owner.

The identity of this extraordinary artist has yet to be established. His œuvre consists of a small group of works dated between 1633 and 1658, signed with the monogram ‘IS’.

Theodore von Frimmel, in 1904, was the first to publish a group of works by this hand, the earliest dated 1633, the latest 1658, thus establishing his artistic identity.¹ More recently Prof. Werner Sumowski reopened the discussion over the artist's identity and likely origin, raising the possibility of him being German and having trained in Holland.² Perhaps due to various interpretations of the clothing and the appearance of the painter's elderly subjects, it has also been suggested that he spent time in the Baltic countries or even Scandinavia. Most of the artist's portraits follow the same pattern, showing a stern-faced figure in bust- or half-length, warmly wrapped in hat and fur-trimmed coat, the sitter's expression rendered with such sophistication that it conveys an insight into their state of mind.

This work may be closely compared with a painting in the Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna, that depicts a woman, also elderly, but positioned facing left.³ The distinguished provenance of this painting, which was first recorded in the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1614–1662), suggests that the artist enjoyed a significant reputation among his contemporaries, revived only in recent decades.

¹ T. von Frimmel, 'Von Monogrammisten IS', in Blatten für Gemäldekunde, I, 1904, pp. 132–133.

² W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, vol. IV, Landau-Pfalz 1983, p. 2548 ff.

³ Oil on panel, 41 x 33 cm.; www.khm.at/en/object/1245/